Stalock in net, Hannan out with head injury, Vlasic on his misconduct, Boyle’s time as Panther and Gomez’s latest chapter

SUNRISE, FLA. – There was some news from the morning skate that goes beyond the fact Alex Stalock will be in net for the Sharks when they face the Florida Panthers tonight.

Scott Hannan won’t be in the lineup and it isn’t the coach’s decision. Todd McLellan said Hannan is out with an upper body injury and, yes, it was tied to the elbow delivered to Hannan’s jaw in the final minute of play one week ago by Dan Cleary of the Detroit Red Wings.

McLellan didn’t call it a concussion, but that would not be inaccurate.

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Hannan did play the next game against the Boston Bruins, but that’s how head injuries can be and not a sign that something was overlooked. He sat out the Washington game.

Anyway, both the Stalock start and Hannan injury were included in the online story filed earlier and available here .

Beyond that . . .

****Marc-Edouard Vlasic confirmed, however circumspect, that he earned that 10-minute misconduct penalty at the end of the Washington game for complaining about the lack of a call after the Sharks defenseman was punched in the face by Caps forward Jason Chimera. TV replays showed the blow.

“You saw it? Well, there you go,” Vlasic said when I brought it up.

So what did the ref tell Vlasic?

“Apparently I was winded for getting hit in the chest,” Vlasic said. “That’s what I was told, but that’s not what happened. . . . I think I was lied to.”

Leading up to the punch, Vlasic and Chimera were engaged against the boards and others have speculated that Chimera was retaliating for some rough play by Vlasic.

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“That’s called a battle,” the Sharks defenseman said before referring to games he watch on TV last night. “That’s what they called it in the games last night. But there were no sucker punches in those games.”

****The Panthers were Dan Boyle’s first NHL organization, signing him as an undrafted college free agent in 1998. Four years later, he was traded to the Tampa Bay Lightning (where he won the Stanley Cup) for a fifth round draft pick, then moved on to the Sharks six years after that.

“It’s where I started. I have both good memories and some not so good ones here,” Boyle said. “Try to focus more on the good stuff — first shot here, first NHL game, first NHL goal, and there were some good times. Still have some friends living in the area.

“There were some tough times, too,” he continued after being prodded. “A lot of players go through it and sometimes you have to go somewhere else to get a true opportunity. That’s what happened for me. I went through three coaches here in four years and not a lot of team success, which is tough, too. It’s in the past and I’m thankful they at least gave me an opportunity.”

****The Panthers also gave ex-Shark Scott Gomez an opportunity at the opposite end of his career, signing the 34-year-old veteran to a one-year, $900,000 contract.

His experience here hasn’t gone so well either as Gomez, who at times last season wasn’t happy with his limited minutes before earning a larger role toward the end of the season and in the playoffs, has played in only 21 of Florida’s 46 games.

He’s been a health scratch the last seven games and seen action in only six of the 30 games since interim coach Peter Horachek too over on Nov. 8.

Still, Gomez, who has one goal and four assists with Florida, says he is doing what he can to stay ready for the possibility his number gets called and maintaining a positive outlook in the locker room.

“You’ve still got to be a professional,” Gomez said. “You’ve still got to stay in shape. You never know what happens in this game. Weird things happen. You’ve got to be ready. You get called and you’ve got to be ready for that.

“You don’t whine, you don’t do anything,” he continued. “There’s a lot of good, young kids here that need that example. That’s the way guys showed me.”

Three other players with Shark connections are likely to be in the lineup tonight: Marcel Goc, Brian Campbell and Brad Boyes.

Oh, and expect to see Tim Thomas, the former Boston Bruin, in net for the Panthers.

David Pollak

David Pollak has been following the NHL forever and at the Mercury News as an editor or reporter since 1987. For almost a decade he wrote about the Sharks as the paper's Fan in the Stands before joining the sports department in 2001. He became the Sharks beat writer before the 2007-08 season and began this blog at that time. You can also follow him on Twitter at @PollakOnSharks.

“consistently inconsistent”? Buddy’s attorney will be contacting you…something about plagiarism.

Tom (fm Quinzee)

I could re-post that Sports Illustrated cover w/ Bobby from 1967. Cheevers in background, you can see his total pads aren’t much more than any other player’s. And if you look closely, you can see Cheever’s shiner behind that mask, which is truly a mask, as opposed to the cages goalies now wear. I’m all for goalies having padding, but I think those leg pads are too big, as are the catching mitts.

ELBOWS999

Is there any doubt that Shanny has it in for the Sharks? Torres last year, no suspension for Cleary(now we find out that Hannan is hurt), Vlasic punched in the face. And worst of all, the cheap shot on Hertl. Lots of comments that the knee to knee was “accidental”, but remember, the Referee called it a game misconduct. Again, Shanny ignores the call by the on-ice official.

LTNC

Thus causing Howe to retreat cowering into a shell never to be heard from again and propelling Marotte to immortality(demonstrated by TomQ memorializing him). Rule 61 says slashing is swinging a stick at another player “whether contact is made or not.” But then the rule goes on to say the severity of the contact should, in the judgement of the referee, determine minor/major.

NB Finfan

Warning my opinion is not going to be popular… The hits to Vlasic and Hannan were cheap but I don’t think they warranted a suspension. Of course I don’t think the suspensions to Torres or Stuart were warranted either mainly because the hits to the head were incidental not targeted. (Oh boy)
With that said I want to know why Brown and Volpati don’t have concussion symptoms. Those were targeted hits to the head!

Tom (fm Quinzee)

touché

LTNC

Cheevers converted from scotch to bourbon.

Tom (fm Quinzee)

Firstly, kudos on not taking the bait on Raffi. But more to the point, on the concussion issue, where’s Hannan now? The mysterious upper body injury. And given all the litigation going on, I think Shanny is very well aware of how concussions manifest. I posted some on this yesterday, and could write quite a bit as I was compelled to research it for my own benefit. So, to keep this short, I don’t buy this as Shanny’s logic. And mainly I don’t buy it owing to the fact that the League is being sued over concussions. That’s why I mainly agree w/ LTNC’s post. And I’m not saying you agree w/ Shanny, either, to be clear. I just think that IF that is Shanny’s logic, it’s way, way off.

Also think you’re on the mark about the C-word.

Tom (fm Quinzee)

Agee on Vlasic – that was “heat of the battle” stuff. I think it’s wrong, but still, that’s been the culture for a long time. However, totally disagree on the Hannan hit. And as for Brown-Volpati, it’s really not that simple when it comes to concussing the brain. I’ll leave it at that. No I won’t. Brown sat out, and Volpati went M.I.A., also.

Tom (fm Quinzee)

rim shot.

renoshark

Yeah, it was a deliberate Muzzin left elbow to Sobotka’s head. Not unlike Cleary’s elbow except it landed much harder on Sobotka. A penalty was called on it but Sobotka didn’t appear hurt, just ticked off, as he and Stewart went after Muzzin later.

renoshark

I’m limited in my prospect research to what’s available on the internet, which is limited. Haven’t seen Grosenick in person yet.

ZEKE

The issue, at least for me with Shanahan, is that EVERYONE says they want head shots out of the league. Well, Cleary CLEARLY took a deliberate head shot on unprotected Hannan. Chimera CLEARLY took a deliberate head shot on unprotected Vlasic.

And from Shanahan’s office, **crickets**

If he doesn’t give a rats backside about cheap, deliberate head shots against players who have no reason to protect themselves against them, exactly what does Shanahan stand for? Because it sure isn’t ‘player safety’.

ZEKE

Jerry Rice’s biggest asset wasn’t his speed, it was his ability to change direction and accelerate off of a move. That’s what made him so hard to cover. No one was as good as Rice at catching the ball and staying in stride.

renoshark

This Yahoo Sports article kind of sums up the league-wide frustration we’ve all talked about and seen with Shanahan.

Thanks. And it does get at the problem w/ Shanny, and I do disagree w/ the characterization of the Torres hit, and I agree w/ DW on that one.

Tom (fm Quinzee)

Well, I think there’s room for doubt, but when there’s no consistency and there’s “star treatment” both in assessing penalties and on the “C-word”, conspiracy theories will spread. I’m working on mine.

Tom (fm Quinzee)

I could argue this point with you for a long time. Watch the Olympic sprints. The fastest starter pretty much NEVER wins.

John Mango

I know the following hypothetical is extremely unlikely and may seem crazy to most, but imagine for a second if this team had the extremely fast and talented Jordan Eberle (who also happens to be a right stick) as a 1st/2nd line winger. His explosiveness could push this team to where it needs to be offensively to compete with Chicago. The second part of this hypo is the crazy part, in order to acquire Eberle, the Sharks would have to give Edmonton a goaltender, something they have lacked for years now. That goaltender would be Niemi. And who knows, maybe the Oilers still wouldn’t trade Eberle for Niemi. Perhaps they won’t trade him for anyone. However, if you were the Sharks GM and that opportunity presented itself, would you pull the trigger? I mean, when Niemi won the Cup he was in his first year and became the regular starter only about halfway through that year. Stalock (so far, and I know it’s early) sure seems like the real deal. Could he have a Niemi-like first year and lead the Sharks to the promised land? The way he plays the puck reminds me of Brodeur (lofty comparison, I know). But Stalock’s puck movement seems to fit perfectly with the Sharks up-tempo north-south hard-fast-supportive style. Also, remember Niemi is coming up for a new contract and is going to want upwards of 6 million per year given he was a Vezina finalist last year. Is this the time to trade Niemi for a blue chip scoring wing (something the Sharks desperately need IMHO), thereby saving that cap room and giving Stalock a chance? Sounds like a Blackhawks move, and last time I checked they’re not too shabby…

ZEKE

And if the sport you are talking about is sprinting, you’d be right. Peyton Manning is a statue compared to most QBs, yet he takes very few sacks. He makes small movements to find space and gets rid of the ball quickly. He knows when to move and where to go. If a guy is fast, but takes off 0.1 seconds too late, he’s toast.

ZEKE

Time to update my version of the standings (Points – GP or wins-losses)

Yep, agree with you on the Raffi hit. In light of what went on in that Sens/Habs game, the Torres suspension was a horrible decision by Shanahan and unfortunately effected our series with LA.

ZEKE

Can we include Havlat in that deal? If that was out there, its the sort of deal worth considering. Though I don’t think Niemi’s next deal is coming up that soon.

Given the way the other teams in the West are playing and our injuries, having adding talent on the wing would be a huge help to us. To win a Cup this year, you need to be very good and catch lightening in a bottle. Eberle could be that sort of guy to provide it. And you gotta give to get that kind of talent. Rolling with Stalock might be a risk worth taking.

renoshark

Nemo’s under contract thru next season, so it’s anyone’s guess as to what happens with him, given the way Stalock has been playing. Let’s also not forget DW allegedly tried to deal Nemo for Van Riemsdyk two years ago, so it’s not out of the question he could do it again. A probable trade of Boyle this season, dumping Havlat, and not extending Nemo, or potentially trading Nemo, could free up serious dollars for us going forward. I’d be happy at this point though just to be completely healthy come playoff time.

ZEKE

I think JM’s point is that if you want to win a Cup, you often have to take some risk. Trading Nemo and hoping Stalock can stand the pressure is a gamble. But its gamble worth considering.

I do think trading Boyle won’t happen if this team can contend for a Cup. And given the way we’ve been playing, we can contend for a Cup.

ZEKE

On the injury front, just speculating.

I think Hertl has a chance to return, though it might take until the playoffs. I like his attitude and I’d bet that he puts a ton of effort into rehab.

Just a gut feel, but Raffi seems like the sort of guy who takes shortcuts — I’m not expecting that he’s rehabbing aggressively and will get back all the way this year. Even if he gets back onto the ice, I expect uneven play from him.

Burish — pretty sure he wants back in as soon as possible and will give everything he can. Which may not be a ton (though he was good vs LAK last year in his role). He’s been in big games before and is comfortable on that big stage — that makes him valuable on our lower lines.

Couture — expect that he returns immediately after the Olympics, with a chip on his shoulder. He’s got a lot to prove and a desire to prove it. Ought to be fun for Shark fans watching him. For fans of other teams, it won’t be so fun.

Havlat — There Sharks have used a slogan along the lines of, ‘to whom much is given, much is expected’. It doesn’t seem to apply to Havlat

renoshark

That’s what I was saying. Nemo has been offered up as trade bait before, so it wouldn’t totally shock me if it happened again, considering Stalock’s level of play this season. I’d be real surprised if he got moved this season though. As far as Boyle goes, I don’t see us extending him so a trade to address other needs on our team is almost inevitable IMO. All depends on the kind of return we’d get for him.

Arch Mickel

Agree with everything, but Raffi i think maybe you ate something that did not agree with your gut…and I use to love Haveflat, but now i would be happy if he stayed sidelined the rest of the year! I hope Raffi and 39 return after olympic break so we can see what we will have…as far a burish meeeh.

Tom (fm Quinzee)

Zeke, on Raffi, the one report I remember hearing about him was when he first began skating again, and that said that there was a concern he was trying to do too much, too soon. My gut on him is the opposite – he’s an “all in” type of guy.

John Mango

Zeke got my point exactly. Thanks for contributing fellow fans. Commenting and sharing our ideas and opinions is just another part of the fan experience. We all love being armchair GMs. I know we could all use the GM paychecks too! Oh well…

renoshark

Judging by Raffi’s efforts on the ice, I doubt he has a lax attitude during re-hab.

Johnny San Jose

I’m throwing it out there with the caveat that the Sharks pick up another quality defenseman but…
Boyle for Nash? Thoughts?

Tom (fm Quinzee)

I have to bring out my favorite quote from Pulp Fiction, with some modification:

“Well, let’s not start kissing Stalock’s stick quite yet…”

He’s had a couple of clunkers in his very, very limited NHL career. And I’ll agree we’ve seen some real bad moments from Niemi this year. But, in save %, Nemo’s .002 behind Tim Thomas, .001 behind Quick. His goals against is 17th of 46 goalies that ESPN rates. And he’s, no this can’t be right, he’s SECOND in wins. Winning counts for what?

Then there’s Eberle. Who’s gonna be the goon that protects him? He’s 6′, 185. He’d be the smallest guy on the Sharks. Edmonton may be having a fire sale, given what their roster looks like, but give them Nemo? That’s a franchise in deep, deep doo-doo. If I were their GM, I’d want more than a goalie who would stay for 1 season and leave on the first plane out. They need major rebuilding, and Nemo won’t stay for that.

GP_hockeyhappens

IMO, I think Boyle is going nowhere. There is enough defense back there. I don’t think there is enough offense beyond Boyler at the moment. Demers has the skill, he just isn’t that guy Boyle is. Might never be IMO.

Tom (fm Quinzee)

That salary is hard to swallow if you’re a GM. We may be stuck with him.

Phat Stat Phil

I’ve always wondered why it was named for Gordie Howe — he only had one Gordie Howe hat trick.

I recall the leader in Gordie Howe hat tricks is Brendan Shanahan — I think he had 20-odd over his career.

Tom (fm Quinzee)

It’s a worthwhile discussion, but when this is what Niemi is capable of:

Boyle has a skill set that is very hard to replace. If we’re even thinking “Stanley Cup,” he’s integral to that. We do have a big 3, and Danny’s one of them. I ain’t blind, either. I can see he’s not the guy he was a few seasons ago, but he’s still a top-4 D-man, and on a lot of teams in this League, top-2.

Going back to a conversation from a couple or three months ago, so far as re-signing those 3, given their collective ages, I’d say Danny could be the odd man out. I’d hate to see him go.

Buddy Elf

His personality and his fame…

A quick look on Wikipedia to see if they shed any insight chalked it up to his ability to score and fight.

GP_hockeyhappens

Finally and 100% caught up with the games I missed while away.

Detroit Game and Cleary incident: Wasn’t shown, but Drew described Cleary swinging and missing a sucker punch at MEV earlier in the second per I think it was. Maybe MEV should be more practiced at avoiding the “sucker punch to the head.” And, Bakes and Hedi, and others in the broadcast were sure that Shanny would take a look at the Cleary elbow. We all know the result.

Tom (fm Quinzee)

There’s a lot of mythology around Gordie, and much of it stems from his fight with Lou Fontinato in 1956.

Last comment on games I missed before I forget. This had to do with the Preds game and something professor Numby Nut came out of silence to proclaim. For me, just more proof he’s a liar and a troll.

First, he always cries about the Stuart hit on Nash. If you see that video, hockeynut flat out lies about Stuart “jumping” off the ice to hit Nash in the head. The video is clear, Stuart does lift himself, but clearly, for anyone not going to lie about it, does not jump.

Second, the 3rd goal by the Preds that was a result of Goalie Interference. He complained about Drew’s thoughts and declared it was clear that MEV pushed him on top of Nemo and it should be a good goal as called. If you watched the play, you see the player actaully skate into Nemo’s crease and land on top of Nemo, then the puck was shot into the net. MEV was there, but there was no trip or hook or crosscheck and didn’t force the player to skate into the crease. Even if there was a hit, the players responsibility is to avoid the goalie at all costs. IMO, was just another boldface lie.

There, old business….done.

Phat Stat Phil

I just wrote a giant reply to this that I think was actually really good. And it was moderated.

– There’s a lovely irony to writing a response in which a player praises being able to ask what exactly was wrong with a play and then being moderated for no reason communicated to me! –

The upshot in case it never comes out of moderation is that the NHL system of justice has never been one meant for strict interpretation.

Referees make calls to control the tone of a game. They’re allowed to say ex-post-facto when they intended to blow the whistle.

The GMs ask the referees to selectively enforce certain things because it’s what they want the game to be like.

It wouldn’t shock me if Shanahan sees it in the same light. Keep in mind that this mission statement is on the wall in the New York video room:

“We want to make the game as safe as possible while preserving the intense, physical, passionate nature of hockey.”

On reflection, the whole thing, ultimately, is a giant admission that we could not write a rules for strict interpretation and enforcement to legislate out dirty hits.

I agree with you that it’s a terrible way to remove hits from the game, but it’s very much in line with the way that the NHL is run. And maybe that’s not such a terrible thing.

Phat Stat Phil

I might be right. But again, I want to underscore that there’s a lot that we don’t understand, so it’s really hard to make definitive statements.

I’m certainly not poking you in the chest and walking away. ; )

Phat Stat Phil

If you don’t mind me asking, I’d love to know where you’re getting your data. I’m drawing generally from hockeysfuture.com and eliteprospects.com. It seems like EP does a pretty good job of updating their stats too.

Phat Stat Phil

I’m in agreement with you. I don’t like seeing players get traded around at the end of their careers.

I feel like there’s something to be said for letting a guy retire with your organization rather than passing him around like a hot potato and trying to convert him into a few last draft picks as a rental or something.

But that’s a sentimental consideration, not a business one.

Phat Stat Phil

I’d consider it for one simple reason — for the last five years at least, we’ve had a lot of talent at the goaltending position and we’ve let a lot of people go.

Before the Hjalmarsson offer sheet that gave us Niemi — one of the players that DW is on record as saying “beat us” during that final — we had let go of Nabby. We let go of Boucher before that. Niittymaki had signed on. Greiss had always seemed promising. And that was before you considered Stalock (who was pre-injury I think), Sexsmith, and Sateri.

It was a log jam that eventually ended with Niitty being understandably upset and Doug Wilson doing everything he could — including waiving him — to try and find him a place to play.

One thing that’s underrated — the difference between the best and worst goalies in the league is usually around 1.5 goals a game. Mike Smith and Chris Osgood perennially turned out great save percentages by virtue of a defense that was effective at controlling shots.

We have a defensive corps which has that capability. If we had a bunch of players back from injury, we could probably manage whatever scoring deficit we might give up.

And to my mind, I’ve never understood where Niemi fits in the organization. He made a strong case with his performance last year, but there’s a lot of questions as to what to do with all the talent.

I recall that you’re a Ducks fan? You probably have a close analogue with Hiller, Fasth, Anderson, and Gibson.

Phat Stat Phil

Exactly. Pretty thin stuff. You’d think someone would have taken a look at the stat sheets before naming something after a guy that only did it twice.

* Make that twice, per the link that Tom just gave.

Alex

Surprise, surprise. As I pointed out before, in Hockeynut’s mind, Sharks players/coaches are always wrong, opponents’ players/coaches are always right. If it wasn’t for that self-imposed veto on posting here before the playoffs I guarantee you he would come out and said that Hannan ran into that Cleaery elbow himself and we all just need to get over ourselves.